stone.]  THE  ELDERS  RIDGE  COAL  FIELD,   PENNSYLVANIA.  315 
The  Avonmore  mine  (No.  11),  which  is  operated  by  the  Avonmore 
Coal  and  Coke  Company,  is  situated  at  Hicksville  on  the  bluff  350  feet 
above  the  river.  The  working  faces  are  from  one-half  to  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  from  the  mine  mouths.  The  cars  are  collected  in  the 
mine  by  mules  and  hauled  out  to  the  top  of  the  bluff  by  cable;  they 
are  lowered  to  the  tipple  on  the  railroad  by  a  double-track  gravity 
incline.     This  mine  has  been  working  continuously  since  1889. 
The  Foster  mine  (No.  12)  is  owned  by  the  Saltsburg  Coal  Company 
and  was  reopened  in  the  fall  of  1903  after  standing  idle  a  number  of 
years.  The  coal  is  hauled  down  the  run  and  around  the  face  of  the 
river  bluff  to  the  tipple  on  the  railroad  by  a  narrow-gage  steam  loco- 
motive. The  management  hopes  soon  to  be  producing  750  to  1,000 
tons  per  day.  At  the  Edri  mine  (No.  13),  which  is  situated  on  the 
hill  east  of  the  station  of  that  name,  the  cars  are  brought  out  by 
mules,  and  lowered  about  200  feet  to  a  tipple  on  a  spur  from  the  rail- 
road. A  double-track  gravity  incline  is  the  method  for  lowering  and 
raising  cars.     This  mine  is  operated  by  the  Edri  Coal  Company. 
The  Bowman  Coal  Mining  Company,  S.  J.  Robinson,  superinten- 
dent, operates  a  mine  (No.  11)  near  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
field  on  the  hill  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  south  of  Edri.  The 
company  employs  from  10  to  60  men  at  this  time  and  ships  about  150 
tons  daily.  Mules  are  used  for  hauling  the  coal  from  the  breast  out 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill,  where  it  is  lowered  by  an  incline  to  a  railroad 
tipple. 
The  Conemaugh  Coal  Company,  of  Blairsville,  Pa.,  F.  M.  Graff, 
superintendent,  has  opened  within  the  past  year  a  mine  (No.  15)  a  half 
mile  east  of  the  Bowman  Company  mine.  There  were  about  50  men 
on  the  pay  roll  December  1,  1903,  and  they  were  getting  out  about 
3,000  tons  per  month.  This  mine  has  been  opened  so  recently  that 
development  work  is  large  and  output  small.  A  large  tipple  has  been 
built  over  a  railroad  spur  at  the  sheet-steel  mill  and  cars  are  handled 
on  the  incline  by  steam  power. 
The  Pittsburg  Gas  Coal  Company  is  starting  a  new  coal  town  on 
Harper  Run,  about  li  miles  south  of  Elders  Ridge.  This  company 
began  operations  in  the  summer  of  1903  by  building  a  dam  across  the 
run,  erecting  power  houses,  and  starting  6  headings  on  the  coal.  Three 
of  these  headings  are  on  the  east  side  of  the  run  and  have  natural 
drainage.  The  other  3  on  the  west  side  of  the  run  are  down  the  dip 
of  the  rocks,  so  a  heading  is  being  run  almost  due  west  to  Big  Run  to 
give  natural  drainage  to  all  the  workings  in  that  part  of  the  mine. 
Electric  haulage  and  all  modern  improvements,  both  inside  and  outside, 
will  be  used  at  this  mine. 
The  company  expects  to  erect  350  to  400  houses  on  its  town  site, 
known  as  Iselin,  and  to  employ  between  2,500  and  3,000  men  within 
two  years.     Fourteen  houses  are  now  built,  and  several  hundred  men 
